AHEAD OF the first-ever go to of Union House Minister Amit Shah to frame Rajouri district on Tuesday, the Pir Panjal area of Jammu and Kashmir is seeing rising pressure between the Gujjar and Pahari communities over anticipated plans to grant Scheduled Tribe standing to the latter.
On Monday, Gujjars and Bakerwals held demonstrations in Jammu in addition to Shopian in Kashmir, joined by BJP leaders. A Gujjar Bakerwal Organisations Coordination Committee alleged that “sinister strikes” appeared afoot in opposition to “the simply hopes and aspirations” of the 2 communities.
On his go to, which incorporates Baramulla in Kashmir, Shah is predicted to announce grant of ST standing to Paharis. The Gujjars, already listed as ST, are apprehensive of a shrinking of the advantages that come to them as a consequence of this. The current nomination of a Gujjar chief to Parliament is seen as an try by the BJP to assuage the group earlier than giving ST standing to Paharis.
On Sunday, former Chief Minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti accused the BJP of “making a wedge” between the Paharis and Gujjars, and cautioning them to be alert. “The House Minister (Amit Shah) will come and return. The BJP is right here in the present day, it won’t be there tomorrow,” she stated in a video attraction. “However the chasm that it (the BJP) is creating between you, the enmity… the vacuum they’re creating….”
Urging that they belonged to the identical area, Mufti added: “First, they pitted Hindus in opposition to Muslims and now they need the Gujjars and Paharis to combat in opposition to one another.”
जम्मू-कश्मीर के तीन दिवसीय प्रवास पर आज जम्मू पहुंचा।
विभिन्न कार्यक्रमों के माध्यम से जम्मू-कश्मीर की जनता से संवाद करने के लिए उत्सुक हूँ। pic.twitter.com/mEmBHIZ76V
— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) October 3, 2022
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Calling Paharis “non-existent”, senior Gujjar chief Arshad Choudhary of the BJP, who was a part of the protests Monday, stated “their (Paharis’) self-styled leaders having connections in the suitable locations within the institution in J&Okay have joined palms to persuade the authorities in J&Okay and New Delhi about their spurious and unjustifiable declare to ST standing”. He stated the Paharis wish to share the advantages loved by “tribals resembling Gujjars, Bakerwals, Gadis and Sippis since April 1991”.
The Monday protests noticed the participation of members of Block Growth Committees, in addition to panchs and sarpanchs.
The Gujjars and Bakerwals, who observe Islam, represent 40% of the inhabitants within the border districts of Rajouri and Poonch, with the remainder residing in these areas figuring out themselves as Paharis. With a inhabitants of almost 15 lakh as per the 2011 Census, the Gujjars and Bakerwals type the third largest ethnic group in J&Okay after Kashmiris and Dogras.
Since April 1991, they’ve loved advantages of 10% reservation for STs in authorities jobs and admissions to instructional establishments.
The Paharis have been demanding that they need to get the identical as they dwell, just like the Gujjars and Bakerwals, within the robust and backward terrain of Pir Panjal area, apart from Baramulla and Anantnag districts. The Gujjars and Bakerwals, nonetheless, contest Paharis getting the ST tag, primarily on the bottom that the latter are usually not an ethnic group however a conglomerate of various non secular and linguistic communities.
In January 2020, in a bid to assuage the Paharis, the J&Okay administration headed by then Lt Gov G C Murmu amended guidelines to grant Paharis 4% reservation in jobs and academic establishments. This too was contested by the Gujjars and Bakerwals, arguing that they already loved quotas beneath different classes resembling OBC, EWS.
Not one of the authorities panels just like the Gajendragadkar Fee, Sikri Fee, Wazir Fee and Anand Fee, arrange every so often to look into the allegations of disparities between areas, recognized the Paharis as a tribal group, the Gujjars and Bakerwals argue. Additionally they level out that even the BJP-led NDA authorities of 2002, headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had rejected the demand by Paharis for ST standing.
Whereas issues had quietened down following the 2020 grant to the Paharis, the demand for ST standing has resurfaced now on account of 9 seats being reserved for tribals within the new 90-member Meeting to be shaped in J&Okay publish the delimitation course of.
In response to Gujjars and Bakarwals, who’re seen as staunchly pro-government as in comparison with sections of the Muslim inhabitants of J&Okay, native BJP leaders have exacerbated issues. Seeing an opportunity to make inroads into the Pir Panjal area courtesy the Pahari vote, in addition to with a watch on the Hindu vote in the remainder of the Jammu division, many have lent help to the ST demand of Paharis. Not less than a few of them are leaders who had been hopeful of tickets from the seats which are actually put aside for STs. On Monday, Gujjar BJP chief Choudhary that the transfer might “weaken nationalistic forces”.
Within the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, by the way, Gujjar candidates had gained from 5 of the seven Meeting segments in Rajouri and Poonch when there was no political reservation for them.
Since 2002, the political contours in J&Okay have modified with the BJP for the primary time coming into the corridors of energy in coalition with the PDP in 2014. Following the delimitation, which is seen as benefiting the BJP, the get together is hoping to multiply its tally. For this, it wants the help of each Hindus and Muslims, together with Gujjars, Bakerwals and Paharis.
So much therefore rides on Shah’s rally Tuesday.
Shah will go to the Vaishno Devi shrine on Tuesday morning earlier than his rally at Rajouri. He’ll later fly to Srinagar, the place he’ll maintain a safety assessment and tackle a rally in Baramulla on Wednesday.